Private Prison Industry Feeds on Nation’s Crippling Addiction to Incarceration While Reaping Multi-Billion Dollar Revenues
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Will Matthews, ACLU, (212) 549-2582 or 2666; [email protected] or Kirsten Bokenkamp, ACLU of Texas, (713) 942-8146 x 109; [email protected]
HOUSTON – The American Civil Liberties Union this week released a report providing the first comprehensive analysis of the destructive impact of prison privatization.
The report, “Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration,” traces the rise of the for-profit prison industry over the past three decades and shows how private prison companies have capitalized on our nation’s addiction to incarceration to achieve gigantic profits. All the while, the report shows, mass incarceration wreaks havoc on communities by unnecessarily depriving individuals of their liberty, draining government resources and bringing little or no benefit to public safety.
“Mass incarceration needlessly wastes scarce tax dollars, contributes to torn communities, and disproportionately affects people of color; too many non-violent offenders are behind bars, which contributes nothing to public safety,” said Terri Burke, Executive Director with the ACLU of Texas. “With a large number of private prisons, and with one of the largest inmate populations in the nation, Texas’ economy and culture would certainly benefit from cutting ties with the private prison industry. In recent years, Texas has made positive steps towards reducing prison populations and increasing alternatives, and we hope to see this smart-on-crime trend continue.”
The for-profit private prison industry uses shrewd tactics, including extensive lobbying, lavish campaign contributions and efforts to control information, to garner more and more government contracts and lock up ever increasing numbers of people. Two of the largest private prison companies, CCA and the Geo Group, generously donated to Gov. Perry’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign, and have powerful lobbyists who fight for stiffer and longer sentencing laws to keep more people in Texas prisons. The private prison industry is a major barrier to criminal justice reform.
Empirical studies may also show a heightened level of violence against prisoners in privately-run institutions, a possible reflection of the higher rate of staff turnover in private prisons, which can result in inexperienced guards walking the tiers.
A copy of the report is available online at:www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/banking-bondage-private-prisons-and-mass-incarceration
